The Artemis program is a human spaceflight program by the United States. The Artemis program is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972; mid-term objectives include establishing an international expedition team, and a sustainable human presence on the Moon. Long-term objectives for Artemis are laying the foundations for the extraction of lunar resources, and eventually making crewed missions to Mars and beyond feasible.
To date, missions in the program are aimed at exploration of the Moon, including crewed and robotic exploration of the lunar surface. These explorations will be more focused towards areas such as the lunar poles and the far side of the moon. Three flights of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle are currently planned for launch in the Artemis program in the early 2020s, beginning with Artemis 1. Before Artemis was named, the flights were referred to as "Orion missions". Numerous supporting scientific and technology demonstration missions are planned for launch under the program's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), in addition to planned and proposed uncrewed logistical missions to construct and resupply the Gateway and its expendable and reusable lunar landers in lunar orbit.
Mission | Launch date | Crew | Launch vehicle [a] | Launch pad | Duration [b] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
EFT-1 | 5 December 2014 | — Uncrewed mission | Delta IV Heavy | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, SLC-37B | 4h24m (success) | |
Exploration Flight Test 1, high apogee high reentry test, carrying an uncrewed Orion capsule on its first spaceflight | ||||||
Artemis 1 | 16 November 2022 [1] [2] | — Uncrewed mission | SLS Block 1 Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | 25.5d (success) | |
Maiden flight of the SLS, formerly "Exploration Mission 1" (EM1), carrying an uncrewed Orion capsule and ten CubeSats selected through several programs. [3] The payloads were sent on a trans-lunar injection trajectory. [4] [5] | ||||||
Artemis 2 | April 2026 [6] | Reid Wiseman Victor Glover Christina Koch Jeremy Hansen | SLS Block 1 Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | ≈10d | |
First crewed flight, carrying four crew members on a circumlunar free-return trajectory. | ||||||
Artemis 3 | Mid-2027 [6] | TBA | SLS Block 1 Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | ≈30d | |
Carrying Artemis III mission hardware. First lunar landing of the Artemis program. [7] | ||||||
Artemis 4 | September 2028 [8] [9] | TBA | SLS Block 1B Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | ≈30d | |
Second Artemis Lunar landing. Debut of the SLS Block 1B and the Exploration Upper Stage. Co-manifested delivery of the I-HAB module to the Lunar Gateway, [10] [11] followed by a crewed lunar landing. [12] | ||||||
Artemis 5 | March 2030 [13] | TBA | SLS Block 1B Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | ≈30d | |
Co-manifested delivery of the ESPRIT Refueling Module to the Lunar Gateway. [14] | ||||||
Artemis 6 | March 2031 [13] | TBA | SLS Block 1B Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | ≈30d | |
Artemis 7 | March 2032 [13] | TBA | SLS Block 1B Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | ≈30d | |
Artemis 8 | 2033 (presumed) [15] | TBA | SLS Block 1B Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | ≈30d | |
Artemis 9 (proposed) | 2034 (presumed) [16] | TBA | SLS Block 2 Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | ≈30d | |
Artemis 10 (proposed) | 2035 (presumed) | TBA | SLS Block 2 Crew | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B | <180d | |
Launched on 28 June 2022, [17] the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment ("CAPSTONE") mission is a small (25 kg) technology-demonstration spacecraft designed to test a low-energy trans-lunar trajectories and to demonstrate the near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) intended to support lunar polar missions. [18]
The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program will support the Artemis program by landing several small payloads focused on scouting for lunar resources, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) experiments and lunar science, in preparation for an extended human presence on the lunar surface. [19] [20] [21]
Mission | Launch date | Operator | Lander | Rover | Launch pad | Launch vehicle [a] | Duration [b] | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peregrine Mission One | 8 January 2024 | Astrobotic | Peregrine | Iris | Cape Canaveral, SLC-41 | Vulcan Centaur | 10 days (failure) | [22] |
The lander carried multiple payloads, with a total payload mass capacity of 90 kg. [23] However, the spacecraft was unable to reach the moon because of a propellant leak. It burned up over the Pacific Ocean on 18 January. [24] | ||||||||
IM-1 | 15 February 2024 | Intuitive Machines | Nova-C | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A | Falcon 9 | 7 days | [25] | |
The lander carried six NASA-sponsored instruments, as well as six payloads from other customers, including EagleCAM. [26] The Odysseus lander successfully touched down at Malapert A near the lunar south pole on 22 February 2024. [27] The mission ended after 7 days with the onset of lunar night, after which no further signals from the spacecraft were received. [28] | ||||||||
Blue Ghost M1 | 15 January 2025 | Firefly Aerospace | Blue Ghost | TBA | Falcon 9 | ≈2 weeks | [29] [30] [31] | |
IM-2 | January 2025 | Intuitive Machines | Nova-C | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A | Falcon 9 | [32] | ||
TBA | H1 2025 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | ≈9-10 Earth days | [33] |
Griffin Mission One | September 2025 | Astrobotic | Griffin | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A | Falcon Heavy | ≈100 Earth days | [34] [35] | |
IM-3 | October 2025 | Intuitive Machines | Nova-C | Lunar Vertex, CADRE × 4 | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A | Falcon 9 | ≈9-10 Earth days | [36] [37] [38] |
TBA | Q4 2025 – Q1 2026 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | ≈9-10 Earth days | [33] |
ispace Mission 3 | 2026 | ispace / Draper | APEX 1.0 | TBA | TBA | ≈9-10 Earth days | [39] [40] [41] |
Uncrewed missions to assemble and resupply the Gateway will be executed as part of the Artemis program. [42]
Launch date | Payload | |
---|---|---|
2025 [6] | HLS Uncrewed Lunar Demo | for Artemis 3 |
September 2026 [6] | HLS Crewed Lunar Demo | |
2027 [43] | Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) | for Artemis 4 |
September 2028 [44] | Lunar I-Hab | |
September 2028 [44] | Sustaining HLS Crewed Lunar Demo | |
2028 [45] | Dragon XL (GLS-1) | |
2029 [44] | GLS-2 | for Artemis 5 |
March 2030 [13] | ESPRIT Refueling Module (ERM) | |
2030 [44] | GLS-3 | for Artemis 6 |
March 2031 [13] | Crew and Science Airlock Module | |
2031 [44] | GLS-4 | for Artemis 7 |
Artemis I, formerly Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), was an uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission that was launched in November 2022. As the first major spaceflight of NASA's Artemis program, Artemis I marked the agency's return to lunar exploration after the conclusion of the Apollo program five decades earlier. It was the first integrated flight test of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and its main objective was to test the Orion spacecraft, especially its heat shield, in preparation for subsequent Artemis missions. These missions seek to reestablish a human presence on the Moon and demonstrate technologies and business approaches needed for future scientific studies, including exploration of Mars.
Artemis II is a scheduled mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. It will use the second launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and include the first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft. The mission is scheduled to take place no later than April 2026. Four astronauts will perform a flyby of the Moon and return to Earth, becoming the first crew to travel beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II will be the first crewed launch from Launch Complex 39B of the Kennedy Space Center since STS-116 in 2006.
A distant retrograde orbit (DRO), as most commonly conceived, is a spacecraft orbit around a moon that is highly stable because of its interactions with two Lagrange points (L1 and L2) of the planet–moon system.
Artemis III is planned to be the first crewed Moon landing mission of the Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Starship HLS lander. Artemis III is planned to be the second crewed Artemis mission and the first American crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. As of December 2024, NASA officially expects Artemis III to launch no earlier than mid-2027 due to heat shield issues on Orion and valve problems in the spacecraft's life support system.
The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a space station which is planned to be assembled in orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts as part of the Artemis program. It is a multinational collaborative project: participants include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Gateway is planned to be the first space station beyond low Earth orbit.
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to hire companies to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon. Most landing sites are near the lunar south pole where they will scout for lunar resources, test in situ resource utilization (ISRU) concepts, and perform lunar science to support the Artemis lunar program. CLPS is intended to buy end-to-end payload services between Earth and the lunar surface using fixed-price contracts. The program achieved the first landing on the Moon by a commercial company in history with the IM-1 mission in 2024. The program was extended to add support for large payloads starting after 2025.
ispace Inc. is a publicly traded Japanese company developing robotic spacecraft and other technology to compete for both transportation and exploration mission contracts from space agencies and other private industries. ispace's mission is to enable its clients to discover, map, and use natural lunar resources.
In orbital mechanics a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) is a halo orbit that passes close to the smaller of two bodies and has nearly stable behavior. The CAPSTONE mission, launched in 2022, is the first spacecraft to use such orbit in cislunar space, and this Moon-centric orbit is planned as a staging area for future lunar missions. In contrast with low lunar orbit which NASA characterizes as being deep in the lunar gravity well, NRHO is described as being "balanced on the edge" of the gravity well.
The Intuitive Machines Nova-C, or simply Nova-C, is a class of lunar landers designed by Intuitive Machines (IM) to deliver small payloads to the surface of the Moon. Intuitive Machines was one of three service providers awarded task orders in 2019 for delivery of NASA science payloads to the Moon. The IM-1 lunar lander, named Odysseus, was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 15 February 2024, reached lunar orbit on 21 February, and landed on the lunar surface on 22 February. This marked the inaugural Nova-C landing on the Moon and the first American spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon in over 50 years. It is the first spacecraft to use methalox propulsion to navigate between the Earth and the Moon.
The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. It is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.
Artemis IV is a planned mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. The mission will include the fourth use of a Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle, will send an Orion spacecraft with four astronauts to the Lunar Gateway space station, install a new module on the Gateway, and conduct the second lunar landing of the Artemis program.
Artemis V is the fifth planned mission of NASA's Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Blue Moon lander. The mission will launch four astronauts on a Space Launch System rocket and an Orion to the Lunar Gateway and will be the third lunar landing of the Artemis program. In addition, Artemis V will also deliver two new elements to the Gateway Space Station.
CAPSTONE is a lunar orbiter that is testing and verifying the calculated orbital stability planned for the Lunar Gateway space station. The spacecraft is a 12-unit CubeSat that is also testing a navigation system that is measuring its position relative to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) without relying on ground stations. It was launched on 28 June 2022, arrived in lunar orbit on 15 November 2022, and was scheduled to orbit for six months. On 18 May 2023, it completed its primary mission to orbit in the near-rectilinear halo orbit for six months, but will stay on this orbit, continuing to perform experiments during an enhanced mission phase.
Starship HLS is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that is slated to transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under the Human Landing System contract to NASA as a critical element of NASA's Artemis program to land a crew on the Moon.
The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), previously known as the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle propulsion system, is a planned solar electric ion propulsion module being developed by Maxar Technologies for NASA. It is one of the major components of the Lunar Gateway. The PPE will allow access to the entire lunar surface and a wide range of lunar orbits and double as a space tug for visiting craft.
Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) is a planetary exploration program operated by NASA. The program funds small, low-cost spacecraft for stand-alone planetary exploration missions. These spacecraft are intended to launch as secondary payloads on other missions and are riskier than Discovery or New Frontiers missions.
The Lunar I-Hab is designed as a habitat module of the Lunar Gateway station, to be built by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. The I-HAB will have a maximum launch mass of 10,000 kg (22,000 lb) and provide a habitable volume of 10 m3 (350 cu ft).
Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost, or simply Blue Ghost, is a class of lunar landers designed and manufactured by Firefly Aerospace (Firefly). Firefly plans to operate Blue Ghost landers to deliver small payloads to the surface of the Moon. The first Blue Ghost mission is scheduled to launch at 1:11 a.m. EST on January 15, 2025.
...after the Space Launch System performs the Trans-Lunar Injection burn that sends the spacecraft out of Earth orbit and toward the Moon.This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
The Artemis 1 mission profile. Credit: NASA [...] The Artemis 1 mission will send the Orion spacecraft into a distant retrograde lunar orbit and back...
Delivery of I-Hab to the Gateway will be via the SLS Block 1B launch vehicle with Orion providing orbital insertion and docking.This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
NASA said Griffin was now expected to be ready for the mission no earlier than September 2025.